Cupid's Broken Heart
by HollywoodHearts
Summary: New school, new friends, old friends, boyfriends, on top of being the resident Cupid. Can she handle it?
1. Chapter 1

I don't really know exactly were to start. I guess maybe the best place would be the day that everything changed.

I remember that morning so well. Tia, Emily and I were already downstairs, eating our usual sugar coated cereal that we ate every morning that break. The summer light was just starting to pour into the windows, and that proved how early we had woken up.

"God, I can't wait until the school year starts!" Emily crowed, taking a drink of milk. I smiled, and brush a piece of my red hair that was caught between my glasses out of the way.

"I know," Tia said. "We're fourteen! Nothing could be better. Well, except maybe if Lisa Miller's let in boys." I laughed. Lisa Miller's Academy for Witchcraft is the school that we go to. An all girl's school. Just then, my older brother Casey stumbled into the room, still in his PJ's (which is basically his boxers and a tee) and grabbed some cereal and a bowl. Emily and Tia giggled. After a few minutes, I looked over to see Tia looking at the calendar, a mix of sorrow and surprise flying across her face.

"What is it?" I asked, glancing at the date.

"It's been three years," Tia stated, and I could see the tears piling. Emily quickly looked at the calendar and then back at me. Three years since what? You may find yourself asking. Well, you'll find out in due time. Emily's eyes were shining too, and I pulled them into a hug.

"It's ok. Just remember that we have each other, and my parents love you guys like my sisters." I tried to smile. Just then, my parents came into the room, fully dressed and ready for a day of work (which, for my mom, was taking care of us). They both sat at the table with us, and I saw the seriousness in their faces.

"Kids," my dad said, and I could practically feel all our eyes rolling. "Melanie and I need to talk to you." He put his hand over my mom's on the table.

"We're moving to England," my mom said plainly. All our silver wear dropped, and Casey spit water all over the table.

"Gross!" the three of us called in unison.

"Whatever." He glared at us, before doing the same to my parents. "Are you insane? I start my seventh year in less than a month, and you guys just expect us to pack up and move across the globe?" By the end he was half-yelling, and I could tell he was pissed.

"Casey, Honey," my mother said, moving to stand up. "Your dad got transferred to a post for work there. At a school called Hogwarts. Holly, I think you know about it." Tia, Emily's and mine jaws dropped. See, for the last couple of years, I've been in this program called W2W. It's where you talk to another wizard or witch from another country or city. Kind of like having a pen pall. Mine just so happened to be a boy with the pen name IrishBoy, and he went to Hogwarts School Of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland, where wizards and witches from England, Scotland and surrounding areas go.

"Yeah," I said meekly, "I know about it. Harry Potter goes there too." Casey looked at me.

"Harry Potter? The Harry Potter?" he said, disbelieving.

"Yeah. IrishBoy is in the same year as him. He said that they share a dorm and everything." Emily and Tia nodded, having both read the letters.

"Getting back on topic," Dad said. "You four need to go start packing. We leave in three days. If you need help with anything, just call on us or Casey." But Casey was gone before my dad was finished. Up the stairs and slamming the door before his name was called.


	2. Chapter 2

"Mom, could I get your help with this?" I heard Emily call out from her room. I heard the shuffling of feet and then after a second, Emily thanked her, and the shuffling went back towards my parent's room. I saw the green of the floo going, and I figured my parents were sending the rest of their thing to the inn we were staying at. That was already done for me, so I sat on the barren floor of what used to be my room, reading over some of my old correspondents with IrishBoy, trying to get an idea of what it would be like gong to school with people from a whole other country. Being a fan of English Literature, I sometimes use words like "Bloody" and things like that, but otherwise you could tell that I, well, that we were from America. My mom called us into their room, and all Tia, Emily and I had was our purses. One by one we all stepped into the fireplace and called out the place where we were staying until the school year started. Finally, I went, the last of the kids, and stepped into the fireplace.

"The Leaky Cauldron!" I yelled, throwing down my floo powder. The green flames engulfed me as I was taken to England. Though, of course, my body chose that moment to be clumsy. I tumbled out of the fireplace, landing hard on my ass. "Ouch," I mumbled, trying to get the powder off my glasses. I felt two sets of arms help me up, and I knew who it was immediately.

"We figured you'd do that," Tia joked. I rolled my eyes.

"I prefer brooms," I said, wiping my glasses off on my sweater. My mom and dad came next, and then Tom showed us to our rooms. My mom and dad would have one, then Casey would, and then Emily, Tia and I would share one with a set of bunk beds and a single. I just let them battle it out over the bunk beds, and threw my stuff that was sitting in the front of the room onto the single. Sometimes, my best friends fight like they actually are sisters, because essentially we are, we're just not blood related and don't have the same last names. Emily's long dirty blonde hair made her the envy of most girls at my school, and Tia's devious, conniving side made her the fun one out of us. My smarts completed the trio, rounding us off.

A week passed, and it was time for us to get our back to school stuff. Mom gave us the money and told us to go a head and go by ourselves, and gave Casey his own bag so he wouldn't be stuck with us. The first thing we knew we needed was robes, so we headed to the store Tom had told us about, Madam Malkin's. When we walked in, a somewhat mousy looking lady was walking around a tall girl with long black hair getting her robes hemmed. She pinned another hem up and looked at us.

"What do you girls need?" she asked.

"All three of us need to be fitted for Hogwarts robes," Emily clarified. The lady looked us over again.

"I'll be with you in a minute," she said. The girl getting fitted looked at us.

"You girls don't seem familiar. I go to Hogwarts. You transfers? You have American accents," she said. I nodded.

"Yeah. We're transfers from America. Texas, to be exact." She nodded.

"Well, it'll be good to be in school with you. I'm Cho, by the way. Cho Chang." She smiled and held out her hand. I shook it, and so did the other girls. Tia was the first girl to be called up after Cho was done, but she pulled me aside to talk.

"So, Holly, what house are you hoping to be in?" she asked. I was confused.

"House? What are you talking about?" I asked. She looked at me like I was crazy.

"The four Houses of Hogwarts. Ravenclaw, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Slytherin. At the beginning of first year, this your for you guys, you get sorted into one of the houses and have classes with the students in the same year as you in your house." She smiled knowingly.

"Well a big thanks to IrishBoy for mentioning that," I muttered.

"What?" Cho asked.

"Nothing," I said quickly. "So what exactly sets these houses apart? I asked." She pointed to the small blue crest on her robe.

"Well us Ravenclaws are known for wit and smarts. Gyffindors, like Harry Potter, are known for their bravery: Slytherins for their cunning, and Hufflepuffs for their kindness and loyalty. Honestly, I'd go with the first two. Most Slytherins are huge gits." She laughed.

"Well I think I know which houses we'll be in," I said under my breath. Just then, Madam Malkin had me stand on the platform and she took in the hems of the robe. The bells on the door rang, and I heard a cane hitting the floor.

"I'll be with you in a minute, Mr. Malfoy," Madam Malkin said. When she had me turn around again, I saw a boy who looked to be my age and his father. Both of them had blonde, almost to the extent of being white, hair. The son was looking at me with contempt.

"Can I help you, or are you just going to glare at me all day?" I asked. I heard Emily, Cho and Tia snort." Madam Malkin stuck another pin in the robe, and Malfoy looked at me for a second.

"Aren't you a Weasley?" he asked. I raised an eyebrow.

"A what?" I said, confused.

"I believe what my son means is that we haven't had the please to meet you yet, my dear," the father said. He curtsied a bit, which, I must say, freaked me out a bit (I mean, I'm from Texas and Cali, and the most courteous thing we do to each other is nod).

"We're transfers from America. I'm Holly Anderson, and these are my friends, Emily and Tia." The son looked back at the girls who were talking to Cho, and then back at me.

"So you're not a Weasley?" he asked. I rolled my eyes.

"Considering I have no idea what in the world you're talking about, you can take that as a no." Another round of giggles came from behind me.

"Good. You're too good looking to be a Weasley anyways," the son said. I dropped my jaw, and there was a silence. The dad hit the boy over the head with his hand.

"Ow!" he yelled. He rubbed the back of his head.

"You're done, deary," said Madam Malkin. I took off the robe carefully and hopped off the platform, careful not to make eye contact with the blonde kid. When Emily went up, Cho said she needed to leave, so I said goodbye to her.

"You shouldn't be hanging out with the likes of her," the kid said in my ear when she was gone. I took a step back.

"And you're one to make that decision, why?" I asked, annoyed that this guy was dissing my new friend. He looked like I was crazy.

"I'm Draco Malfoy," he said, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.

"And that means what, exactly?" I said, rolling my eyes (ok, so I have an attitude problem). As soon as Emily was done, and Madam Malkin said she would send the robes to our rooms, we high tailed it out of there and went to get the rest of our stuff. In the book store, this lady holding about five sets of the same books almost dropped them on us, and so we helped her carry them to the register.

"Thank you girls so much," she said, looking at us. "Are you girls going into your fourth years this term?" she asked. Man, she had a good cense of age.

"Yep," Emily said. The lady looked a bit taken aback at her accent, but continued.

"So is my son and his friends. Just ask for Ronald Weasley," she said. The second time we had heard of these infamous Weasleys.


	3. Chapter 3

"Do you two mind if we sit here?" Emily asked as we approached a compartment near the end of the train. When we woke up that morning, there was definitely gloominess to the air as we all knew we were going back to school. After packing up, mum and dad got directions from Tom on how to get into the platform (as we had all seen our tickets and were very, very confused). Tom called two muggle taxis to King's Cross for us, and we shrunk our luggage and put it in our pockets. After brushing off the weird looks we got from people as we ran headlong into the wall, we all trekked onto the train. Mom and Dad went to the teacher's compartment, and Casey, being the bugger that he is, went to go find some "cooler" people to hang out with. Which left us on our own. The two twins and the African-American kid in the compartment looked up at us, and I tried to smile (though awkwardly).

"You might want to try our brother. He looks about your age," the twin on the right said. "I'm Fred, by the way."

"And I'm George," the other one said. "And this is our friend Lee."

"You know," said the other kid, "I could have introduced myself, thanks." I laughed, thinking on how well these three would have gotten along with Casey.

"I'm Holly," I said, "and these are my friends, Emily and Tia." We all half-heartedly waved as the train lurched again. "We're going into our fourth year. My older brother is in his seventh."

"We're on our way to our sixth," said George, "but it'll be good to know someone younger who's not a prat like our brother." I heard the other twin mutter something about a know-it-all girlfriend, and rolled my eyes, thinking about the fact that we would get along all too well.

"Well, listen," said Emily, "do you guys have any idea where we can find your brother or anyone else our age?" They looked playfully offended, but told us that he saw his brother and some other fourth-years hanging around the middle of the train. We said thanks and headed that way. We passed a compartment with a redhead boy that looked about our age, a boy with black hair and glasses and a girl with some 80's looking hair, but after seeing who was across from them (Malfoy), we went a compartment further and knocked on the door.

"Mind if we sit here?" Tia asked. There were two boys in this compartment. One was a taller African-American boy, and the other was a more muscular Caucasian (look at me, using big words). They both looked our age. When Tia knocked, they looked up.

"Sure," said the African-American boy. We all smiled as they helped us put our trunks up in the compartment.

"Holly Anderson," I said, holding my hand out to the more muscular one, who had just put my trunk up in the holder.

"Seamus Finnigan," he said, shaking my hand. He had a heavy Irish accent, and that intrigued me.

"Say," I started, "you wouldn't happen to know an 'IrishBoy', would you?" I asked. He looked a little surprised, but seemed to understand.

"Let me guess. TexasFlower?" he asked. I laughed and we all sat down. Tia was now in an animate conversation with Dean about some Quidditch team that was on a shirt he was wearing (that was her thing, I mean, I could fly, but I have no athletic skills whatsoever).

"It's so great to finally meet you," I said. Emily gave me a small smiled out of the corner of her eye. Seamus turned to her.

"And you are?" he asked. She smiled.

"Emily Kay. And this," she said, indicating Tia, "is Tia Seymour." Tia smiled politely at him before returning to the conversation with Dean. Dean asked Tia why we all had different last names if we lived together, she brushed off the question. Seamus, of course, after three years of talking to me, knew the reason, and kept quite for fear of upsetting the girls. A wise choice in my eyes. Most of the way there, we made small talk, until about half way there, there was a sound of glass shattering, and then I saw a familiar blonde head walked down the hallway from the direction I was facing.

"Crap!" I said, sliding out of my seat and onto the floor, where I couldn't be seen from the outside.

"What the hell are you doing?" Emily asked. I gestured outside.

"It's that Malfoy creep from Madam Malkin's. He's coming down the hallway," I said. Emily looked outside and grimaced.

"You know Malfoy?" Seamus asked, the last word with an emphasis of disgust. I shook my head.

"No. I don't really know him. We met him at Madam Malkins when we were robe shopping. He was a real ass about me being friends with Cho-"

"Cho Chang?" Dean asked, surprised.

"Yeah, she seems nice. We met her there too. Anyways, he's a real piece of work." I rolled my eyes.

"Shit, Holls, he's right outside the door," Tia said barely moving her lips. But it was too late. The door slid open, and because I had been leaning on it, I fell backwards, landing on someone's legs.

"Well, you don't have to fawn over me," I heard someone say. There were two chuckles, and I looked up. Oh, the joy of this situation.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Crap," I said under my breath. Tia heard and laughed as she helped me up.

"What do you want, Malfoy?" Seamus asked from behind us. Draco smirked and crossed his arms.

"What, I can't visit with my friends?" He looked me up and down and I think I actually blushed as I crossed my arms over my chest and rolled my eyes.

"If you use the term 'friend' loosely, Draco," I said, stepping backwards. "I tend not to hang out with snotty assholes who think they own everyone and everything." I could practically hear Seamus and Dean's jaws dropping and the girls grinning insanely.

Enter: The Big Brother

I saw Casey through the corner of the window where his head was showing. _Oh, thank God. _At the same time, Draco and the cronies turned around and saw him. Casey stood up all the way and crossed his arms.

"Is there a problem here," he asked. Draco looked up at him with a hint of, was that fear? Tia, Em and I suppressed giggles. Draco didn't even bother answering, he just slowly walked to the side and around Casey, back to his cabin with the cronies, I assumed. Casey looked back at us, grinning. Tia was the first to talk.

"Well that was entertaining." I smacked Tia on the arm and looked over at the guys. They still seemed a bit shell shocked.

"Is something the matter?" I asked. Seamus shook his head and seemed to come too a bit.

"No, nothing…it's just…most people are too scared to deal with Malfoy. They just back down and don't retaliate." I raised an eyebrow.

"Uhm….well I'm not one to put up with that BS. We got enough of it from the girls at our last school. Not dealing with it here." No kidding. Back at my old school….well I may have been Cupid, but in no way was the favor ever returned. Casey cleared his throat loudly. "What?"

"Are you planning on introducing me to your friends?" He gestured to Seamus and Dean, and I laughed.

"Oh yeah. Um..this is Seamus and Dean. Both our year. Seamus and Dean, this is my older brother, Casey." Case shook their hands, and Seamus looked at me.

"So this is the infamous Casey I've been hearing about since second year?" I nodded, and Casey looked at Seamus, wide-eyed.

"Wait a sec, _this _is IrishBoy?" I laughed and nodded again.

"Irishboy and friend." He shook his head and leaned against the door. "So, Case, you make any new friends?" He grinned and nodded.

"Some other Quidditch players. Gryffindor, I think. One named Oliver Wood."

"Wood?" Dean repeated, coming out of a conversation with Tia. Does everyone know everyone here? Casey nodded again.

"Wood's pretty cool," Seamus said. "Seventh year, I think. Been captain since his fifth, I think." And that's when I hear shattering glass down the hall. All of us head outside quickly, and Seamus and I, both of us being the nosy idiots we are, poke our heads into the same cabin that the girls and I had passed, to see the glass flying back into place, a girl with bushy brown hair putting away her wand. On the other seat were two boys, both looked our age. One had black hair and glasses, the other with almost the exact same color hair as me, but a bit lanky and skinnier than the other boy.

"What's going on in here?" Seamus asked, standing up all the way and pulling me with him into the cabin. Emily and Tia were standing behind me with Casey, I noticed.

"Run in with Malfoy," the black haired boy said. I rolled my eyes.

"You guys too?" All of them raised their eyes simultaneously, and Seamus pushed me forwards a bit.

"Hermione, Harry, Ron, this is my friend from the America's, Holly." He gestured back to everyone else in turn. "These are her friends Tia and Emily, and her older brother Casey." We all shook hands

"Holly, I swear you could be Ginny's double," Harry said, sitting back down. I leaned against the door frame with Seamus, and everyone else had gone back to their cabins. Blinking, I looked back in the hall as a lady with a cart walked up.

"Anything off the trolly, dears?" She seemed so sweet. I pulled out some of my money.

"Pumpkin pasty." I laughed as Seamus and I spoke at the same time. Harry and Ron stood up and went to get something as I paid.

"Hey Holly," someone said. I looked up, and Cho was standing there, paying for the same thing Seamus and I were having.

"Hey Cho!" I smiled and waved as she and her friends walked away giggling. Harry was staring after her, and I rolled my eyes. [i]Boys,[/i] I thought. "So who is this Ginny chick?" I asked, taking a bite of my pasty.

"That Ginny chick," Ron said, mocking my American accent (well, non accent), "is my little sister. A year below us."

"The only thing that sets you two apart is the glasses," Hermione said. I laughed.

"But is she a total book worm with a weird obsession for playing cupid?" Seamus asked. I looked at him with wide eyes and smacked his arm.

"Seamus!" Of course, the others laughed.

"Playing Cupid?" Hermione asked, confused. I rolled my eyes and took another bite.

"Cupid, you know. Little kid in the diaper with an arrow. That's me back at Elysa Monroe's. I knew all the townie guys, so I was usually the one setting people up on weekends."

"Her old school."

"Thanks for explaining, Seamus."

"Welcome." I could already tell that this was going to be an interesting year.


	5. Chapter 5

"I just can't believe it!"

"Seamus, you really need to stop whining." As the eight of us walked down the hall towards the dorms, Seamus, Emily, Tia, Dean, Ron, Harry, Hermione and myself all were all in a heated argument.

"But you're so brave!" he called again, and I rolled my eyes, but Hermione was the first to answer.

"Seamus, you know how the hat works. We all do. I'm smart, but I'm in Gryffindor."

"Smart's an understatement." At the same time, Hermione both gave Ron a look of total admiration, and smacked him on the back of the head. Everyone snickered.

"Oi!" I laughed, shaking my head.

"Anyone know what's up with this tournament thing we're going?" I asked, rounding a corner. Hermione rolled her eyes.

"All I know is that it hasn't been held in a while because of some fatalities, and it's never been held at Hogwarts before."

"Holly, you coming?" I turned around to see Padma, Cho, and about seven other girls heading towards a different hall.

"Well I guess this is where we say goodbye," Emily said. She looked teary eyes.

"Aw, Em, It's not _goodbye_, I'm just not going to be living four feet away from you anymore." She laughed and I hugged her and Tia, and waved to everyone else. "See you all at breakfast tomorrow." Following everyone else up halls and stairs, we finally reached a wall with a large brass knocker on it in the shape of a Raven.

"If a story has no ending, can it be happy?" I realized then that the voice was coming from the Raven.

"Can you repeat the question?" a girl in my year, named Marisa, asked.

"If a story has no ending, can it be happy?" Everyone looked at one an other, before I thought of an answer.

"Stories don't have endings, just a point where the person stops telling it."

"A wise answer. Very good." Everyone stared at me in astonishment as the door slid open to reveal a very deserted looking common room.

"What?" I shrugged and looked at everyone.

"That's probably the hardest one we've had yet," Rachel, another girl in our year, answered. I shook my head.

"Writing is my thing. As are riddles. Now will someone show me where our room is?" I followed the girls up a flight of stairs, and Cho and her friends parted ways, while I followed my roommates into a room labeled "Fourth Years." Inside were five beds, all with trunks at the end. Mine was easily recognized, because my trunk was purple with old black and white photos glued to it. I sat at the end of my bed like everyone else.

"So, Holly, having fun at Hogwarts so far?" This was the first time I had heard my other roommate, Allie, talk. She was a bustier girl, like myself and Marisa, but Rachel and Padma were booth skinny as sticks.

I nodded a little solemnly, jumping back off my bed and starting to unpack my trunk. "Yeah, it's cool and all, I just wish-" Marisa cut me off.

"That your friends were in the same house?" I looked back at her and nodded, then quickly turned back to my trunk.

"I just never expected that things would be this different. And everyone looked so heartbroken when the hat said Ravenclaw." Rachel snorted.

"Yeah, especially Seamus." I raised an eyebrow, but didn't turn around as I threw my favorite stuffed animal on the bed. An animal, and I wasn't about to tell the others this, that Seamus had sent me for Valentines Day in second year, after we'd been talking for a year. The dog's ears flopped as it hit the pillow, and I sighed, turning around and flopping back onto the bed.

"Did anyone else think that Michael looked ridiculously cut at dinner?" Allie said, a dreamy look glazing over her eyes. Oh good god, not more matchmaking.

"Al," Padma said, looking like she wanted nothing more than to roll her eyes. "You've gotta get over Corner, I mean, we all know he fancy's Cho." I perked up at a name I actually knew.

"Yeah," Allie retorted. "But we all know, also, that he's got no chance, because Cho likes that Puff Diggory."

"Puff?" I was somewhat confused, and all the girls looked over at me as if they had just realized I was listening.

"Hufflepuff. You know, the house your brother got sorted into." Marisa said it as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Is it that obvious that Casey and I are related? I mean, I'm not even a natural red-head. I did it last summer because I thought it would make me stand out. Maybe it was time for a change.

"Hey, guys, I'm gonna go take a shower. I'll be out in like half an hour," I said, grabbing my towels and a few other things, heading into the bathroom. No one responded, so I closed the door and heard a few remnants of the conversation as I started the water in the tub and pulled out my items that I had grabbed. I held the bottle in front of my face and read it carefully. This should definitely help, and it's something I've wanted to do for a while. I just hope that no one goes ballistic on me.

When I stepped out of the bathroom and back into the room, wearing a pair of shorts and a Hanson tee shirt, Marisa was the first to notice.

"**What the hell did you do to your hair?!**" She screamed it more than said it, and it made everyone in the room turn to look, and Cho and her friend Marietta came running down the hall and into our room. I took a step back and slid my glasses back on my face.

"Uhm…I dyed it?" I blinked as Rachel took a step forward and looked my hair up and down.

"But it's…..black."

"Dark brown," I corrected her. "My natural color. And, I used a lengthening charm on some parts to layer it." I don't trust myself with scissors.

"But it's like, the first day of school. Why didn't you do it before school started?" I bit my lip, trying to come up with a good answer to Cho's question. Marietta was staring at me, her arms crossed. She seemed a bit defensive that her best friend had made a new friend over break.

"Because, before I didn't know I would be going to school with my brother and both my parents." And as I said it, I realized that I'd probably have Dad's class tomorrow. I was soooo dead.

"Your dad teaches?" Allie asked. I nodded and threw the rest of my stuff on the bed.

"He's the new Care of Magical Creatures assistant." Padma's eyes went wide.

"As in, Mr. Anderson? The one that Dumbledore introduced before the announcement about the Tri-Wizard?" I thought back to that and nodded again.

"That's my dad. Mom's probably still unpacking their bags in their room." Everyone seemed to go back to what they were doing, forgetting about my hair. Cho waved goodbye and she and Marietta headed back to the Fifth year's dorm. If the girls had accepted my hair as quickly as this, I could only hope that the others would too.

That hope was **not** granted. When I walked back into the Great Hall that morning, about seventy percent of the people in the room turned to look at me. Ok, so my hair was different. And maybe I had added some pins to my skirt…and maybe I was wearing Converse instead of the socks and Mary-Janes, which I had thrown under my bed, refusing to even try them on. But why was everyone _staring_? I told the girls I would be at the table in a few, and headed over to the Gryffindor table to say good-morning to my friends. Silverware clanked, drinks spilled, and everyone in the area stared (excluding Emily and Tia, who were dressed almost identically to me) as I walked up and stood behind Emily and Tia.

"Morning, everyone," I said, smiling. Seamus, who was sitting across from Emily, blinked a few times to make sure what he was seeing was correct.

"Uhm…Holly…what did you do to your hair?" he asked.

"And your uniform!" Hermione looked flabbergasted at my outfit, and I just smiled.

"I dyed my hair, Seamus, and I'm not much of a follower, Hermione." Tia laughed and her gold, sparkly Converse shone from under the table. Emily's red ones did almost the same thing. They obviously had done that last night, because I had done the same thing to my blue and silver striped ones. I told them goodbye and headed back to the Ravenclaw table, where my friends were sitting, and waved to my parents at the staff table. My dad just shook his head when he saw me, and I gave him the thumbs up, just as Professor McGonagall walked up with my schedule. She did almost the same thing as my dad, except she looked like she was about to protest my skirt, but instead just handed me my table and moved on. Rachel immediately snapped it up, and her and my roommates inspected it.

"We all have the same schedule, except you," she pointed to me, "have Aithmancy today after lunch, while I have astronomy, and everyone else has Divination." I took my schedule back and looked it over while eating a piece of sausage. I looked to see what my first class was, and I let out a small gasp. Marisa looked at me.

"What?"

"We have History of Magic first thing. With the Slytherins."

"So?" I looked past her, and at the Slytherin table, Draco Malfoy was staring at me, a large smirk across his face. You have _got_ to be kidding me.


	6. Chapter 6

"Oh my, God, Holly," Rachel said, pulling my arm to move me a bit further. "Stop dragging your wand and lets get to class. We're going to be late." _I wish, _I thought. I huffed and pulled my messenger bag higher on my shoulder, moving a bit faster. I was **not **looking forward to my first class at Hogwarts. History of Magic I can handle. Mr. Lunser, the teacher of that particular class at EM's, was probably the most boring teacher I had had up to that point. But the work was easy, and I was usually top of the class.

We walked into the class room, and Rachel's brown hair flopped on her shoulders as she sat next to Allie at the table behind Marisa and Padma. All my roommates had left me alone. Great. Just great. The room was pretty much divided with guys on the right side, girls on the left, which left me two options open: Sitting next to a Slytherin girl seated directly behind Allie, or a Ravenclaw boy on the other side of the room. Being the person I am, I naturally headed towards the table with the guy. I'm usually the one to break the status quo, and most of my friends in the town we lived in back in Texas were guys, excluding Emily and Tia, who thought of boys as one word: Hotties. Plus, from my experience with Slytherin's, the Ravenclaw was my best bet. Just as I was about to sit down, another Ravenclaw boy slid into the seat, and I gritted my teeth, turning around again and heading back towards the other table. I walked up to the edge and the girl sitting there looked up from her book.

"Do you mind if I sit here?" I asked, giving a crooked smile. She smiled back and cleared her bag out of the seat.

"Sure." I put my bag on the floor next to the chair and sat down, leaning towards her.

"I'm Holly Anderson. Ravenclaw." I extended my hand and she adjusted one of her brown pigtails before shaking it.

"Tracey Davis. Slytherin." She smiled again and sat back, seeming to look at my shoes under the table. "Nice shoes. I wish I had the guts to wear those." I laughed, moving my foot so the glitter shone in the light.

"You just have to be able to ignore what people say about you. When you can do that, you can wear pretty much anything or do anything you want." She nodded, her eyes flickering to a spot behind me before she said anything.

"Well people around here seem to notice." She seemed to have something behind her voice, and I turned around to see what she was staring at. I quickly turned back towards her, after seeing that about two thirds of the males on that side were staring at me. Well, rather my backside. Tracey laughed as I shifted in my seat and sat more forward, my hair falling to hide my face. "I thought you said you have to ignore what they say?" She had an amused tone to her voice, and I looked over at her through the corner of my eye.

"I am. People usually just don't…stare." I ran my hand through my hair and looked back at her. I could hear most of the guys talking about me, and I picked up a few things from the four other Slytherin girls behind us, words like "slut" and "tosser." I tried not to look back, because I had seen Malfoy staring at me, that damn smirk on his face.

"Well, my brother seems to definitely notice. He told me about you this morning before breakfast." I blinked and sat back up, interested.

"You have brother? In here?" I looked back around, avoiding the gazes.

"Yeah. Right over there." She pointed back at the table where those same two Ravenclaw boys from earlier sat. I looked more closely, and noticed that they were the same two guys that sat near me and my roommates that morning at breakfast. And they had been in the common room the night before, when I had gone down there. Both had been playing a game of Exploding snap together, but I was up because it was weird for me not being with Emily and Tia. They had acted indifferent, though I noticed that one of them, Corbin, I had learned his name later, would periodically look back at me out of the corner of his eye while I hunkered down with my Emily Dickenson.

Cody and Corbin. The only reason I remember their names was because of the two C's.

"Which one's your brother?" I asked, looking back at her.

"Corbin, the one on the right." Now I remembered. He had said his name was Corbin Davis. Duh, Holly. "The guy next to him is Cody Nielson. His best friend." Uh oh. As she said Cody's name, this glazed over, lost puppy look came over her face. My god, only the second day and there was already so many relationships in the works. Though, I seemed to be the only ones seeing these things, because everyone around us was either A) looking at my backside or B) talking amongst themselves. I looked back over at Corbin and Cody just as Corbin turned to look at me, his brown eyes shining out from under his blonde bangs. He smiled and waved half heartedly, making Cody turn around. He waved too, but I noticed it was more to Tracey than to me. I smiled and turned back in my seat, and Trace looked even higher than before. To snap her out of it, I tried to change the subject.

"Well, Tracey, you seem a bit different than most of the other Slytherins."

"You can say that again." She grinned. "I am a bit conniving though. But otherwise, I have no idea why I'm in this house. I'm smarter than I am ev-"

She stopped mid word and hurried to grab her quill and paper, both of which I had used for a while, even if we usually used ball point pens at EM's. As I looked away, my eyes widened. I saw a man, or rather, a transparent man, coming through the chalkboard and stopping at the desk. Ok, so I'd seen the ghosts last night, but I had no idea that our teacher was one. Professor Binns, as I had read on my table, began to speak, and about twenty minutes into a lecture about the founders of Hogwarts, I, along with what seemed to be most of the class, was sure I was going to die and join Binns on the other plane. I was slowly starting to drift off to sleep, when something hit my foot. Startled, I looked down, and saw a small toy car, made of what looked to be parchment. I picked it up and looked around, trying to figure out who had sent it towards me, while praying that it wasn't Malfoy.

"Psssst." I blinked and looked towards the sound, and was surprised to see Corbin leaning down, his eyes fixed on me. I raised and eyebrow as he made a little book sign with his hands. "Read it," he mouthed. I unfolded the paper slowly and smiled as I read it.

_Dear Holly (that is your name, right? I wasn't sure I got it right at breakfast.),_

_Sorry Cody took the open seat earlier, I griped at him a bit for it. Glad to see you and Trace are getting along well, though. Most girls avoid her because she's a Slytherin. Just wanted to give you a heads up that some Claws and Gryffs are getting together in our common room tonight for a little back to school party. Hope you can make it._

_XO C.D._

Ok, so he was either gay or flirting. The latter seemed more likely, so I tried my best to do the same back, as I penned my answer slowly.

_C.D.,_

_Yes, you got my name right. It's actually Holly-Anne, like with the hyphen, but not many people know that. And your sis seems pretty cool. I don't know about the party tonight. It seems like Binns is the homework giving kinda guy, and I don't want to get behind on my first day. We'll see._

_XOXO H.A.A._

_PS: You tell anyone about the name and you'll find yourself with a new hairdo in the morning._

I grinned slightly as I wrote the last part, and pointed my wand at the paper, muttering a few choice words as it folded back up, this time into a small ladybug. It crawled across the floor and back into Corbin's lap, and he smiled as he opened it. I listened to Binns for a minute before looking back over at Corbin.

I had to hold my nose so I wouldn't laugh. He was making a puppy dog face at me, complete with a protruding lip and wide eyes. I shook my head and rolled my eyes.

"Is there a problem here, Mrs. Anderson?" I blinked and looked up. Professor Binns was hovering over our table, eyeing me. "I would hate to have to send you to Professor Dumbledore's office on your first day here." His voice sounded sarcastic, and he smiled slightly. I straightened up quickly and did what I did best: get myself out of trouble.

"No sir," I said plainly. He looked back at Corbin, who was shoving the note into his pocket. "Corbin was just telling me what we've gone over so far in this class. Don't want to get too lost, now do we?" I smiled back and folded my hands on my table. This time, Professor Binns was the one who blinked, looking taken aback. He floated slowly over to Corbin, whose expression towards me had gone from worried to surprise to impressed, and now he was smiling up at Binns.

"Is that true, Mr. Davis?" he asked Corbin. Corbin smiled wider and nodded.

"It is, sir. I was just writing to Miss Anderson about what we learned last year about the four founders, and the dispute with Salazar Slytherin." Binns looked over at me without moving and raised one of his pale eyebrows. Corbin looked like he had wished he said something else, something I would have known.

"And that dispute was?" He gestured for me to answer, and I did without missing a beat.

"Over blood status. He didn't want non-pure-bloods accepted into Hogwarts, while the other three founders did." Corbin tried not to look surprised, but I heard Tracey's mouth open with a small _pop_. Others around us stared. Binns blinked again, obviously surprised that I knew the fact, but recovered quickly and floated back to the front of the class. I looked over at Corbin, and he was staring at me, along with Cody, with his eyebrows raised. I casually raised the book that was sitting on the corner of my desk to show him. When he saw the cover of Hogwarts: A History, he shook his head and turned back. Laying it back down, I sat back in my seat and tried to avoid the gazes of the other students, while simultaneously trying not to die of boredom for the next two hours.

Eleven o'clock and the party down stairs was still in full swing. I seemed to be the only one upstairs, because my roommates were no where to be found. The books I had scattered on the top of my bed were cracked open, my hair in a messy bun on the top of my head, a pencil holding it in place. I wasn't planning on going down that night, so I was in a while and black baseball cut tee, and pajama shorts. I pushed my glasses back up my nose, and tried to read some more of my Arithmancy tables for the week. It was basically Muggle math, which I had been taking as my elective of choice at EM's since first year. When someone screamed "Hey, where's Holly?" for the umpteenth time, I decided it was better for me to go down then to have random girls coming up to say hi to me every three minutes. These older Gryffindor and Ravenclaw girls had acted like they knew me when they came by to "just say hi." After twenty or so of them had done so, I was getting tired of it. The first person I spotted when I headed down was someone I wasn't expecting to see at a Ravenclaw and Gryffindor party.

"Tracey? What are you doing here?" I walked over to where she was standing by the staircase, a bottle of Butterbeer in her hands. She smiled and gave me a small hug.

"I snuck out to make sure that Corbin didn't get into trouble. People usually end up pretty trashed after these parties." I raised a brow and looked around a bit, spotting Marisa sitting next to an older Gryffindor guy, his hand moving slowly up her thigh. I rolled my eyes. "Don't drink the punch." Tracey smiled as she held up her bottle of Butterbeer, and I shook my head.

"Duly noted." I waved goodbye to her as I headed over to some familiar faces. Counting to three, I ran quickly before jumping on Seamus' back, making his glass of punch fall to the ground, more of a good thing than bad. He laughed and grabbed my arms as I wrapped my legs around his waist, hoisting myself up. His itchy wool sweater scratched my legs a bit.

"Well hello to you too," he said, trying to take a step forward. His words slurred, and I could tell he was being affected by whatever someone had spiked the punch with. He swayed slightly, and Dean, who had apparently tagged along too, laughed. "How was your first day of classes?" I slowly climbed off of him and got back to my feet, giggling.

"Boring. I had Binns and O'Hera, the Arithmancy teacher."

"Oh, you had a class with Hermione?" Dean asked. I nodded and swiped a bottle of Butterbeer off the nearby table, trying to twist it open. After a few pathetic tries, Dean was snickering. Before I could ask Seamus to open it, someone goosed me for behind, and I screamed, almost dropping my Butterbeer. I turned around, expecting one of my room mates or Ron, maybe, but Corbin stood behind me, a large grin on his face, Cody snickering a foot behind him. I let out a deep breath and rubbed my side with my free hand.

"Ouch, Corbin, that hurt."

"That was the point." I rolled my eyes for what felt like the hundredth time that day, and handed him my Butterbeer, making my best puppy face. This flirting thing was kinda fun.

"Open it, please?" He smiled and opened it easily, tossing the cap off to the side, and handing it back to me. I smiled what I hoped was flirtatiously and took it back. "Oh um, Corbin, you know-" I gestured back to Seamus, but before I could finish, Cody cut me off.

"Finnigan, Thomas." He and Corbin nodded to both of them. I took a step to the side so I could see all of them. Seamus looked a bit peeved for some reason. Cody took a step forward to stand beside Corbin. "Is it true that Moody turned Malfoy into a ferret today in the courtyard?" I choked on my Butterbeer, and both Seamus and Corbin leaned forward.

"I-I'm all r-right," I said, coughing again. "Professor Moody did **what?**" I held my drink to my side and looked at Seamus, waiting for him to explain. He nodded and went for more punch. "Wow. No more punch for you, hun. You're already tipsy." I handed him a bottle of Butterbeer instead, and raised an eyebrow.

"Uhm…ok. Well it was just a little dispute between Potter and Malfoy during break, but Moody seemed to be offended by it. He got into it with Malfoy, and he ended up as a white bouncing rodent." I snorted again, and I took a mental note not to laugh while drinking ever again as Butterbeer dripped out of my nose. All the guys laughed and I reached for a napkin to wipe my face off.

"You know what, it's getting late," I said, putting my Butterbeer down on the near by table. "I'm gonna go ahead and go upstairs. Good night, guys." Things were already awkward enough. Before I could take a step away, Corbin grabbed my arm.

"Hey, do you think maybe you could help me with my Binns paper tomorrow?" He smiled warmly. "We have free periods until before dinner tomorrow, and you seem to know more than me already about the founders. Plus, Allie told me about the password last night." I made another mental note to yell at/thank Allie when I saw her, but I smiled back and nodded.

"Sure? How about after breakfast?" I promised some people I'd catch up with them after lunch." I winked back at Seamus, reminding him of the plans he, Emily, Tia, Dean, Mione and myself had made during break that morning. Corbin grinned and let go of my arm.

"Ok, thanks. I guess I'll see you at breakfast, then. Sweet dreams." I smiled and waved at all of them before heading back up the staircase, bidding goodnight to Tracey when I passed her. I opened the door and saw all four of my roommates chatting on Padma's bed.

"Allie, I owe you one."


	7. Chapter 7

"I can't believe you actually brought sunglasses to Hogwarts." Seamus sounded amused. I'm from Texas. Enough said.I pushed my Lily Pulitzer's further up my face. My normal glasses, which I only really needed to read or during class, were sitting in my case in my messenger bag. I smiled and sat back against the trunk of one of the many beach trees lining the Black Lake.

"Seamus, when have you ever known me to be normal?" He rolled his eyes and went back to his History of Magic essay. First week, and I already had a two-foot essay for Binns on the founders and Sixteen Arithmancy Tables. Thank god I had gotten some done last night before the party. And, from what I'd heard, Snape was not so nice. Emphasis on the not.

"Hey Seamus?" Ron had come up to stand behind Mione, who was sitting next to me, checking the tables I had done. Seamus looked up, and Emily's cheetah print Lily's were still firmly on her face when she looked up, her blonde hair sparkling in the bright August sun. "Harry and I were just talking, and we were wondering, what ever happened to that American bird you wouldn't stop talking about last year?" I looked over at Seamus, and the face he was giving Ron had "Shut the hell up, now" written all over it. But, Ron, being himself, didn't catch the hint. "You kept going on about her last year, and you didn't get a letter from her this morning. She usually sends you one on the second day to tell…" He trailed off, seeing Seamus' "discrete" gesturing of the hands towards myself. I had to hold my nose again, trying not to giggle. Hermione rolled her eyes at all of us, having probably figured out that I was TexasFlower the first time I spoke. She's not the smartest girl in our generation for nothing. At least, that's what I hear.

"Ron, he didn't get a letter because it would be silly for me to send him one when I could just walk for two minutes to your common room and tell him myself." I pulled my glasses back down as Hermione handed me my tables.

"You got all of them right except number three. You have to multiply a and b by themselves to get c squared." I nodded and went to go correct it, and as I moved, I noticed Ron and Seamus just staring at us blankly. Tia looked up.

"Oh god. Holly, we're in a wizard school. You're seriously taking a class where you have to study the Pythagorean Theorem?" I laughed and shook my head.

"Tia, I'm not gonna be some famous musician like you some day, so get used to me keeping up with maths. I might actually need it some day." I flicked her nose and her eyes widened under her glasses.

"Oh crap." Tia and Emily both stood up at the same time, and Tia stared down at me. I threw my notebook into my bag and stood up slowly.

"Uhm…" I blinked, and Tia smirked and stared back at me. Her heels, the ones that she had gotten from Emily a few weeks ago, made her about three inches taller than me. I looked up at her and then back to Hermione. "I'll see you guys later." I took off in a sprint, thanking God I had chosen that day to wear my really old, comfy jeans and Converse before classes started. Tia was chasing after me, and I passed a group of people.

"Hi Tracey," I yelled as I ran past her, Corbin, Cody, and a few of my roommates. We passed another group, and this time Tia yelled.

"Hey Dean!" I rolled my eyes but kept running. I looked back, and saw that Seamus was chasing after us both, a few strides behind Tia. Behind him. Emily ran along, her glasses bobbing up and down. And then, to my surprise, I saw Corbin chasing after all of us. I ran faster, getting into the castle and heading towards the dorms. I knew how to get into three of the dorms now, the Gryffindor password ("Balderdash") having been passed along by Seamus, and the Slytherin password ("Pure") given to me by Tracey that morning before breakfast. She said it was because she "always gets eaten at for being friends with Gryffindors and Ravenclaws, and if I don't come out of my dorm for a few days, I want you to be the one to find the body." That one I had laughed at. I turned a corner, heading in the direction of the Ravenclaw common room, that only Corbin and I could get into (unless somehow Seamus, Tia and Emily got a hold of some smart pills).

I looked back again, and only Seamus, Tia and Emily were chasing me. Slightly out of breath, I rounded another corner, and someone's hand reached out of a broom closet and pulled me in just as Tia was catching up to me. I closed the door and the lock, before turning around and sliding down the door, trying to catch my breath. Something hard was pressed between me and the door, but I didn't really care. I looked up, and Corbin made a "silent" sign with his finger over his mouth. I smiled as I took a deep breath. I was safe. Corbin, who I had helped that morning with his paper for Binns after breakfast, was shaking with silent laughter, slightly out of breath. He looked the way he had that morning when I had told him about the time I set up two townie kids on a date together and it ended up so badly that we all had to split a five-hundred-dollar damages bill to the local Deli.

"Hey no fair!" Tia shouted. "You two get to make out in there when I was having fun chasing her!" I couldn't hold it in on that one. I started cracking up, my high pitched, hyena-like laugh reverberating off the walls of the closet. Corbin slid down the opposite wall and sat by me, laughing harder. The door shook. "Holly, open this door this instant! No one flicks my nose and gets away with it."

That set Corbin off again. He leaned down, his head resting on his knees, his body shaking with the silent laughter. I was giggling still, and when Corbin finally looked up, her gave me another quiet sign, and we listened for a second. "Ugh! Fine, whatever!" There was a sound of stomping, and I waited for a second before standing up and unlocking the door, slowly stepping outside. Corbin stood up behind me, and I peered to my right. Next thing I know, I'm toppling to the floor, with someone landing on my back. I hear Corbin, Seamus and Emily laughing.

"Oof."

"Ow! What the hell?!" Now that was not me. Before Tia had been on my back for ten seconds, she sat up and rolled off me. I turned over and gasped. There was a huge gash running down the left side of her chest, her black bra peering out from under her shirt. I clanked over at Corbin, and he and Seamus were both blushing slightly. Emily, on the other hand, was standing on the other side of me, and was staring wide-eyed at my back.

"Tia, what happened?" I try to ignore Emily's gaze as Tia pulls her shirt over to dab at the wound, exposing about an inch of stomach.

"Something on your back cut me!" Emily crouched behind me and touched something on my back.

"Ouch!" She jumped back too, and I turned around quickly.

"What's going on?" My voice is pleading, and I look up at Corbin and Seamus. They've moved to where they were looking at my back too, and Emily gives me a look. "Em, what's on my back?" She glances sideways at Tia and then the boys, then back at me.

"Holly, there are these weird pink glass looking things sticking out of your back." I blinked.

"Uhm….what?" Corbin rolls his eyes and runs his fingers along whatever's back there.

"Holls, they look like….wings?" As he says I, I feel things getting blurry, and before anyone can do anything, I fall back into Corbin's hands, passed out cold.


End file.
